Inspirations for future creations

Favourite

When considering the few great marketing campaigns of years gone by, there’s always one company that consistently crops up no matter which market segment you ask – Guinness. Their iconic and intelligent adverts have delighted consumers since the early 20th century, but why is it that this Irish stout from Dublin has the power to stick with consumers right up to the bar when other companies that also spend multi millions on campaigns often flounder when it comes to consumer retention?

Nick Britton, Guinness Marketing Manager at Diageo, said that Guinness has a history of iconic advertising and that “Guinness has always been synonymous with iconic advertising and the brand presents great territory to connect with consumers that never settle for the ordinary.”

Perhaps this ‘connection’ with the consumers is the reason these adverts remain ingrained into our thoughts however, how do they account for consumers who actively do not drink Guinness but are still amazed by their advertisements? Perhaps this is the genius of AMV BBDO that attributes to Guinness’ award frequently being decorated with industry praise and awards.

At Zeelous, we decided it was time to look back through Guinness’ marketing history and try out “17:59 – Guinness Time” for ourselves.

This simplistic advert was created as part of a campaign by J Walter Thompson (JWT) who took over the Guinness account in 1969. “Black Pot” helped to enforce the brand’s uniqueness compared to other beers due to colour and texture and won the brand critical acclaim. We at Zeelous love the fact that this advert is not pretentious or overly intelligent. It is minimalist and focuses around a single idea – the synchronicity between potting the black in snooker and finishing a pint of Guinness – C’est Magnifique.

‘noitulovE’ was another brainchild of AMV BBDO and won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival and Zeelous believe that was rightly so! To communicate to consumers that drinking a pint of Guinness is the fault of millions of years of evolution and was almost preordained throughout science and history is a very clever way of promoting brand awareness. Who wouldn’t want the purchase of their product to be thought of as a basic human instinct?

The ‘Clock’ advert is Guinness’ latest offering to the marketing world and was unveiled in January 2013. Guinness and AMV BBDO almost seem to be retracing their steps back to previous ‘story-telling’ adverts such as ‘Surfer’ and ‘Tom Crean’. Whatever the thinking behind ‘Clock’ we at Zeelous are big fans and love how Guinness seem to be able to consistently personify their brand to identify with day-to-day human life and interaction. Hitting the brand positioning and awareness jackpot again, hey Diageo?

Albeit not the most original choice for the top spot but this is undoubtedly, in our opinion, the best advertisement created by Guinness with few competitors or even companies in general ever coming close to this level of creativity without being too random or too generic. We take our hats off to you!

During this run down of Zeelous’ favourite Guinness advertisements, we are well aware that we haven’t even scratched the surface of any of Guinness’ print ads or even their general marketing strategies that excite us even more. What we have learnt from this however, is that one thing that is for sure; this is a marketing department that truly is ‘Made of More’.

After much deliberation, raised voices and opinionated discussions, we have compiled Zeelous’ Top 5 Ads at the moment! Some that have inspired, shocked, humoured and maybe even angered us!
However all cleverly innovative and memorable in their own rights, some more successful than others and some just simply Advertising Gold!

Three : DancePonyDance
Split decisions throughout the team about the latest viral boom, however EVERY BODY knows about the little dancing pony for Three’s new campaign! You can even create your own version of it via a web-based app – with different choices of music, personal messages etc so you can share yours with your friends!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6yIj76DXP8)

Aldi : Like Brands only cheaper
We are loving the Aldi ads! Absolute genius way of getting such a simple message across to its audience. Aldi have most definitely grew as a brand due to these ads – plus they are hilarious!
Here’s the latest one, where a woman is comparing champagne, alongside the fact that she’s not too keen on her husband! *Giggles*
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDjYbiSAXVk)

Carlsberg : Spartacus
Have you ever heard stories of how people are fired from their jobs because they are a little sloppy when talking about their boss on their social feeds? Well here’s a little twist on it from Carlsberg! And because the foundations of Zeelous is all about teamwork, we thought Spartacus was a little naughty but also courageous too! It’s nice to know your colleagues are behind you!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5B9RqlKKfE)

Young Enterprise : #SaveALostGeneration
Inspiring us to be as successful as possible is the new collection of advertisements from Young Enterprise. These print ads show statistics of youth unemployment and the worries surrounding our generation. Simple images with strong messages!
(http://www.young-enterprise.org.uk/about-us/senior-leadership/)

Department of Health : Anti-Smoking
The latest anti-smoking campaign from the DoH is hard-hitting imagery and shows the effects of smoking on the human body. It got a lot of people talking about it and shocked a lot of us as viewers! We think it’s really effective how showing a tumour growing from a cigarette makes the harms of smoking a lot more personalised than just stating facts on a screen.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyqcST29wQ)

What do you think about these advertisements? Do you have any other favourites? Let us know 🙂